2013 La Ricolma

So many of Tuscany’s most famous wines achieved their vaunted status by accident. That is the case with San Guido’s Sassicaia, which for several decades was made solely for the Incisa della Rocchetta family’s home consumption. In 1978, Piero Antinori had more Cabernet Sauvignon than he needed for his Tignanello, so he bottled it separately. That wine became Solaia. Masseto was an experimental wine when it was first produced in 1986 as Il Merlot dell’Ornellaia. What about San Giusto a Rentennano’s Merlot La Ricolma? Well, it turns out La Ricolma has a pretty interesting story too. This complete vertical of La Ricolma was the first ever complete retrospective ever held at the estate.

San Giusto a Rentennano fans will be thrilled with these new releases. Luca Martini di Cigala's wines echo an artisan spirit that is often seen in Piedmont and Burgundy, but much less so in Chianti Classico. These wines breath with humanity and a total dedication to the vineyard. Quite frankly, I wish there were more estates operating at this level. The fact that there aren't makes San Giusto all the more special. Martini describes 2013 as a vintage with two significant rain events during harvest. The first storm came in the early morning hours of October 1, when 60mm of rain fell within less than an hour. Fortunately, the humid conditions that can trigger rot did not appear. A second storm arrived on October 6. Weather, up until the rains, had been quite favorable, so the grapes resisted well. If that sounds familiar, it was a pretty similar story in 2010, a year that also saw rain during harvest. To be sure, the 2013s show the more refined side of Sangiovese, but the effects of the late season rains is not really felt in these wines, something I also found at a number of properties in Gaiole. In 2014, on the other hand, the grapes were really pushed to the limit. Swelling from rain and the effects of the Suzukii fruit fly were among the issues that were rampant that year. The grapes with the thinnest skins, and that therefore had to be harvested earliest, were the most compromised. Conditions improved markedly during the last month of the season. There was no rain from September 20 to October 20. The fruit that was able to make it through that period produced much better results, as I saw from the 2014s I tasted from barrel during my most recent visit.